DA The McDowell Books:Four: The Domino Effect
by 00Tyler00
Summary: Book Four in the McDowell series: When an activist for an anti-transgenic movement is murdered, TC faces an onslaught of persecution. And when Alec and Max reckon they have enough on their plates, inside TC - and their home - things look set for civil war


_Thanks again for the reviews so far! If you enjoy these books then please do comment, as I will write more then six intended if demand is substantial enough to make it worth my time. Thank you for reading! IceBox, this one's for you, by the way. :P_

The McDowell Books

By Tyler

Disclaimer: DA and all its characters are the property of James Cameroon. The infant characters of Brac and Nyx were originally created in a fic by Valjean.

Basic Outline: Set fourteen years after Freak Nation. Max and Alec have been partners for thirteen years, still living in a largely-functional and swelling Terminal City. The Familiars are no longer at large although they still hunt transgenics with a passion. The world view on transgenics is now officially tolerant, although a great deal of the ex-Manticore creations still choose to reside in TC to live their lives free of discrimination. Max and Alec are largely still the heads of operation at TC, and balance their work lives with the raising of their two children, Brac (13) and Nyx (11).

Book Four in the McDowell series: When an influential activist for an anti-transgenic movement is savagely murdered, Manticore's creations face vicious accusations and an onslaught of persecution from all corners. And just when Alec and Max reckon they have enough on their plates, inside TC – and the McDowell household – things look set for civil war…

The Domino Effect

_This isn't happening._

The thought strutted calmly to the forefront of Max's consciousness and dug its heels in, stubbornly bucking the tidal waves of disbelief and agitation that were crashing down on the shores of Max's mind.

It _wasn't_ happening – that _wasn't_ a packet of cigarettes in the pocket of Nyx's rumpled hoodie, and Max's eleven year-old daughter _wasn't_ starting to smoke.

Yeah right. As if Max's luck had ever been that sweet.

Alec's had, however. _And_, Max decided flatly as she scooped up the packet of Marlboro Lights and stuffed them into her pocket before continuing to calmly put away Nyx's laundry, _it is __so__ his turn_.

She'd had a long, nerve-wracking day – the sort that made Max want to march down to whatever hocus-pocus hideout the Conclave was using for its headquarters nowadays and challenge Ames White and all five of his muscle queens to a round of jab-and-counter-jab.

TC Central had been a beehive of unilateral voices all insisting that Max do things their way. Mole had made a matter-of-fact proclamation that a rather large chunk of the techies' funding would need to be siphoned into the artillery.

"We're runnin' low on ammo and need a heck of a lot o' upgrades." The reptilian nomalie had stated dryly in the face of a seething Dix, "Plus you and I both know that when the Ordinary's get real quiet, it's a bad-ass sign!"

Dix and Luke had reacted with acerbic opposition and appealed to Max, who had been unlucky enough to be the only other member of authority present at the time.

"C'mon Max, this is ridiculous and you know it!" Luke had pleaded.

"You gotta talk to Alec before Mole does!" Dix had been a little more insistent, "Tell him if he slashes our funding, we'll go on strike."

Max had wanted to grab all three heads and knock them together till the obstinate nomalies saw stars. The only thing that had prevented her was that she didn't have three hands. Instead, she'd opted for a cop-out in the form of scheduling a meeting to hash out the problem for the following morning.

After getting caught in one of Seattle's infamous rain showers on the way to pick up her family's rations, Max had been informed that TC's stockpiles of caffeine were depleted and the bulk-buy budget was at grand total of five dollars and sixty-seven cents.

That meant that Terminal City's chain of command – all of whom relied heavily on coffee to keep them powered – were now going through withdrawals and experiencing the subsequent mood swings.

Max had come home freezing cold and looking forward to a delicious power-shower when the final straw had been piled on her back in the form of an empty water-tank.

And now, as she had grudgingly begun the task of folding and putting away her children's laundry since they would be late returning home from their sparring lessons with Gem, Max felt like she wanted to scream and pummel the wall till her knuckles bled.

But she didn't even time for that simple stress-reliever. The smell of burning lasagna in the oven assaulted Max's nostrils.

_This isn't happening_.

"God, this rain's a bitch!" Was all the greeting Max received from Brac when she opened the door and moved aside to allow her disgruntled children into the apartment.

"I happen to be thoroughly enjoying it!" Nyx responded tartly as she shook off her coat and draped it over the heater to dry. "It's a darn sight better then all the smog we've been havin' recently."

"Shoes off before you take another step inside the house." Max felt like a paternal robot on autopilot as she salvaged what was left of the lasagna in the oven. _Oh for the days when I was just a lil' nineteen year-old Jam Pony messenger cruising the streets on my bike and knocking it back at Crash after hours. _Max hissed as her bare wrist accidentally touched the tray and she felt skin sizzle.

"Dad's home." Brac informed his mom and sister noncommittally as he hoisted his backpack over his shoulder and tramped down the hallway. Max felt the slam of his door with a growl of annoyance.

"Quit slammin' that door or you're fixing it next time it comes off the hinges!" She yelled over her shoulder, knowing the threat would be entirely lost on Brac. Besides, the sound of Alec's keys turning in the lock and the door clicking open had Max's full attention by now.

If he made one of his smart-ass remarks about her cooking, Max would hit him in the jaw.

" 'Sup, Dad?" Nyx was nodding at Alec as she pulled her off her muddy boots.

"What's happenin', Nyxie?" Alec responded distractedly as he removed his soaking wet beanie and placed it on the heater, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack.

"Need some bogus permission slip for a field trip tomorrow." Nyx's statement made Max raise her head and catch Alec's eyes. He nodded at his mate with tired eyes as he pursed his lips into a quick kiss.

Max disjointedly returned the gesture as Nyx continued, oblivious to the exchange.

"Gem wants to take us to the Museum of Self-Defense – thinks it'll be good for us to get a historic rundown on the ins and outs of the some of the methods she's been teachin' us." Nyx sighed, but the action belied the enthusiasm glittering in her bright caramel eyes.

"Okay." Alec leant in and planted a quick kiss on his daughter's head as he shuffled past, "We'll see, alright?" He suddenly paused as his nose caught a whiff of the burning cheese and minced meat wafting from the kitchen.

"What happened to the dinner?" Alec was glancing warily over Max's shoulder as his mate dissected the charcoaled lasagna with a tight-lipped expression.

"What does it look like, Alec? It burned." Max retorted, and before Alec could do anything to stop her, the frazzled X5 had tipped the contents of the tray into the garbage bin with a determined snort.

Alec glanced quickly from the ruined dinner in the bin to the expression of utter helplessness on Max's face and knew his mate was at breaking point.

"How about we have that leftover night you've been suggestin'?" Alec reflexively reached out to rub a soothing hand over Max's shoulder, but recanted. When Max got this wired, that last thing she wanted was to be touched.

"Sounds like a plan." Max said tersely as she filled the tray with water and left it to soak in the sink. "Nyx, get started on your homework!" She yelled over her shoulder as her daughter plopped herself down on the sofa and flipped on the TV.

"It's drenched! My bag got soaked through!" Nyx responded matter-of-factly as she tracked to her favorite show and hiked up the volume.

Max lifted her hands and shook her head at Alec with a deadly expression that meant 'no way am I handling this'. She turned and headed quickly into the master bedroom, instantly throwing herself into the task of separating and folding hers and Alec's laundry with a vengeance.

Alec's musk cologne mixed with the freshness of the rain invaded the air in Max's room shortly after she had entered it. A heavy sigh erupted from her mate's lips as he pulled off his thick sweater and collapsed into an armchair.

Max rolled her eyes. She knew this tactic – Alec was fully aware that the cream-coloured overshirt he was wearing was one of Max's favorites and accentuated Alec's muscular torso perfectly. He was stretching and leaning his head back, eyes closed and lips pursed ever so slightly in that quiet, confident manner that would cause Max to grab hold of his collar and shake him for being cheeky – then she would climb astride him and relish the feel of his tight abdomen underneath the material of his shirt.

It had been a full five minutes, and Max was still stubbornly folding clothes. Alec frowned and opened his eyes to take in her form. She was getting thinner, he suddenly noted with concern. Those jeans had fit Max fine a week ago and now they were beginning to hang looser around her thighs and hips.

"So you gonna tell me what's up?"

"I dunno." Max responded shortly as she shoved a pile of shirts into her drawer, "Personally I don't think you're gonna want to hear it."

Alec mulled over the words for a moment before he shrugged with a raise of his eyebrows, "Since when have we had any _other_ kind o' news these days?"

Max sighed and paused in her work. She swiveled on her hip to turn the upper half of her body to face Alec and felt her face scrunching up in confusion, "You know, I'm kinda tryin' to figure out when that started happening. Things were on the upswing till about a month ago when everything started goin' sideways!"

"Tell me about it. You should see the headlines." Alec rubbed his face and then patted his knee with a questioning glance. He always found it easier to communicate with his family when there wasn't a gap crackling with tension between them. "C'mon, Maxie. Oblige me for two minutes."

Max sighed with a smile of surrender as she crossed the distance between her and Alec and sank into his lap, resting her back against his chest and leaning her head on his shoulder with relief.

"Okay, so who goes first?" Alec murmured, wrapping his hands around Max's flat stomach and brushing his lips slightly against her cheek.

"Youngest to oldest." Max's eyes were shut but a smile was dancing at her mouth, and she jumped as Alec poked her in the side.

"Fine, but you ain't gonna like it." He growled, "Gareth Horn's been murdered."

"Who?" Max queried confusedly, eyes still closed, and Alec continued without missing a beat.

"You remember the guy who led those rallies against the formation of the ITU and got that petition signed to have TC shut down and demolished?" He snorted slightly as a mental picture of the man popped into his head, "Tall guy, balding – looks like his mother starved him for the first thirty years of his life and then gave him his great-grandfather's hand-me-down's includin' a wicked pair of glasses?"

Max's eyes opened and she turned her head to eye Alec quizzically, "The guy who said I was a hazard to mankind and should be viewed as a threat to be eliminated?"

"That's the one." Alec nodded. He'd thought that statement was pretty funny at the time. But he wasn't laughing now. "He was found in his bathtub with his throat slit and a barcode stamped on the back o' his neck with the words 'death to transgenic oppression' tattooed underneath it."

Max sat up and twisted to face Alec, eyes ringing with trepidation, "You're not serious."

"Wish I wasn't." Alec groaned and rubbed his face with one hand and Max's thigh with the other, "There's been no official statement on the murder, but what do you wanna bet ITU's gonna feel the full brunt of this one in the very near future?"

"Great." Max buried her face in her hands and let out a smothered yell. "What is with these bitches and framing our asses 24-7?"

Alec snorted out a quiet laugh, "Jeez, Maxie, you sounded just like Brac for a second there."

"So?" Max scowled and shoved his head away, "You sound like him a helluva lot more often!"

"Either way," Alec pushed her hand off his head with an annoyed expression. He didn't much care for the truth of Max's statement just then. "I called for an assembly of the union tomorrow to hash out a statement before all hell breaks loose."

"Tomorrow?" Max untangled herself from Alec and stood, "I arranged for the heads of operations to meet about a quarrel regarding funds."

"Funds?" Alec's eyes narrowed in the way they always did whenever money was mentioned these days – seeing as there wasn't any to go around at the moment.

"Or lack thereof." Max explained dryly as she tucked the last of the laundry into its dwelling place and slid the drawers shut. "Anyway it doesn't matter. This murder thing's a heck of a lot more important then Mole, Dix and Luke's squabbling."

"Uh huh." Alec wearily rose to his feet and strode into the bathroom, turning on the tap and splashing some of the ice-cold water across his face. "So now it's your turn!" He called over the trickle of the water, and Max chewed at her cheeks at the words, "What message of doom have you got for me?"

"Look on your pillow!" The call reached Alec's ears as he toweled off his face and ran a hand through his hair. He grinned satirically and shook his head as he stalked into the room.

"Max if you mess up my pillowcase with any o' your newfound disasters, I'm gonna have to kick your…" Alec paused to frown as he picked up the pack of cigarettes that lay unabashedly on his pillow. Max was standing at the opposite end of the bed, arms crossed and eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Marlboro Lights? Are you sayin' you want me to take up smoking?"

Max rolled her eyes. Alec's face was a picture of total confusion. Perhaps it was due to the fact that his mind was channeling a completely different wavelength and he was in _executive mode_ (as his children dubbed it) that Alec seemed to not have the foggiest idea as to where this was all heading.

_So much for assuming he'd figure it out and spare me havin' to say it_, Max exhaled deeply and then pasted on what Alec referred to as her candy-floss smile – it was all fluff.

"They're Nyx's. I found'em in her hoodie pocket while I was putting her laundry away." Max nodded, eyebrows still raised and sardonic smile still spread across her lips.

Alec's eyebrows furrowed up in disbelief, "You're not serious."

"Wish I wasn't." Max's response echoed the one Alec had given her when she'd uttered his exact sentiment just minutes earlier. "But the tragedy is that I _am_ serious, those _are_ Nyx's cigarettes and it's _your_ turn to deal with it!" She placed her hands on her hips and let one eyebrow fall, "You got me?"

Alec was floored and took the normally quick-witted X5 a full minute to respond. He leant backwards, resting his hands on the windows sill and shaking his head, "Why would Nyxie just randomly start smoking? We taught her better then that…"

"Yeah well, Manticore taught us better then to think that we could survive without them, but lo and behold, Alec," Max spread her arms, "doggies bite the hands that feed'em and here we are!"

"What?" Alec crinkled his face up in confusion, "Alright Max, you lost me – what have dogs got to do with any o' this?"

"Mom?" Brac's voice shouting through the wall of his bedroom and over the blast of his Kasabian rock music, "Can you come for a sec? This sum's a bitch!"

Max smiled cruelly at Alec as she turned and headed out of the room. Alec's arm swung out and caught her in her tracks as he moved to stand in front of his mate and eye her pleadingly.

"Come on, Max. You gotta sort this one out for me."

She eyed him coldly, "My son's calling me." With those words, Max shoved past Alec and he let her go, eyeing the packet of cigarettes in his hand with green eyes that began to harden after a moment.

Alec closed his fingers determinedly around the item and headed quickly to Nyx's room.

"They're not mine!" Nyx was yelling for the seventh time in ten minutes. Her high-pitched shriek bore a similarity to Max's and hammered nails of irritation into Alec's rescinding stock of patience.

"Oh they're not, are they? Well then tell me this, Nyxie - who dug up the nerve to hustle them into your stuff?" Alec was standing over his daughter in a menacing manner, once hand dug into his pocket and the other pointed in her direction. Nyx rolled onto her side with a defiant huff.

"Who do you _think_?" Nyx snorted, catching her father's eyes and holding them acidly.

Alec shook his head, "I don't see your brother playin' that game with you, Nyxie."

"Oh that's surprising!" Nyx scoffed and maneuvered herself up onto her elbows, "You seem pretty darn quick to blame him for just about everything _else_ under the sun!"

"This is not about _Brac_, this is about _you_." Alec kept a tight grip on the reins of the conversation and steered it back to the matter at hand, "How long you been smoking?"

Nyx's mouth dropped open and her eyes narrowed in a classic expression of disbelief, "You're really serious about this, aren't you? You really think I would smoke, after everything I've said 'bout how much I hate the stuff!"

Alec shrugged with a raise of his eyebrows as he looked down at his daughter unrelentingly, "Funny things do happen."

"Dad!" Nyx hissed, "I'm serious…"

"So am I!" Alec raised his voice into the pitch it took on when he had been taking the patient route for a while and had been slapped in the face with one too many lies. The X5 detested it when his children outright fibbed him…and Nyx had been doing that for a full ten minutes now. "Quit lyin' to me, kid, or you're in for it. Now answer the question; how long have you been smoking?"

Nyx flinched at the harsh tone in Alec's voice which she had only ever recalled him using on her that dreadful time years back when Nyx had poisoned her brother. She still remembered that day, and an involuntary shudder coursed down her spine.

Alec's face remained set, and his arms had crossed over his broad chest, "We can do this all day, Nyxie."

Nyx was silent for a moment as she sat up and rested her back against the wall near her bed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Alec waited.

Finally she spat out the words, "A month."

_Damn_. Alec resisted the urge to slug himself in the gut – he'd get Max to do it later. _How the fuck did we miss this, Maxie?_

"Where'd you get the smokes?"

"You think I'm gonna tell you?" Nyx barked, and Alec unfolded his arms, leaning over his daughter and propping a hand on the headboard of her bed as he did so.

"Yeah, I think you're gonna tell me." He stated matter-of-factly, his brilliant green eyes dueling with Nyx's dark ones as she scowled at him. "I think you're gonna look back over all the times your brother's played this game with me and ask yourself how many of'em he's won. And I think you're gonna remember that Brac's a heck of a harder nut to crack then you are, girlie girl."

Nyx just stared at Alec steadfastly as if to challenge the legitimacy of her dad's last statement.

Alec raised his eyebrows and repeated his question with more then just a hint of intimidation, "Where'd you get the cigarettes, Nyx?"

The ringing phone badgered the McDowell clan relentlessly as the four of them sat around the dinner table that evening, picking at a spread of leftovers Max had set out after the lasagna disaster earlier.

"Someone get that thing before I tear it off the hook!" Brac growled from between mouthfuls of beef jerky as he piled his plate with seconds of mashed potatoes.

"Once you're mouth's not full, Brac, why don't you be so kind as to practice what you preach?" It was more of a statement then a request, muttered out from Max's corner as she sat engrossed in a news printout.

"Well I would get the phone except that you two suspended my rights to the thing!" Brac reminded his mother with a knowing grin as he rained salt down on the food in front of him. He loved it when his parents' punishments backfired on them.

"Can't say you didn't ask for that one, buddy." Alec responded as he leant over Max's shoulder to read the latest developments on the Horn murder case.

Brac shrugged as the phone continued to demand attention, "The guy was bein' a dick – I don't give a crap if he _was_ Head of whatever bogus organization!"

"You were an idiot, Brac!" Nyx's pride had been trampled into the dust by the incident with the cigarettes earlier that evening. The fact that she had been shown up as less-then-perfect in front of her adoring father had rankled the somewhat spoiled young girl to her core – and subsequently put Nyx into a nasty temper.

Typically, she was deciding to vent it on her brother. "And you almost got Mom and Dad in a serious amount of shit!"

"Would both o' you ease up on the language?"

"Would one of you pick up that goddamned phone?"

Alec and Max had yelled the conflicting orders at the same time, and then glared at each other. Brac threw his knife down on the table and pushed back his chair, raising his eyebrows at the obvious tension between his parents and evidently deciding to give the pair a break for the moment.

Nyx rolled her eyes and took a large gulp from her glass as Max and Alec returned their attention to the news clip and Brac silenced the balking phone by picking it up.

"McDowell residence – how may I help you?" The sugary tone in his voice caused Max to roll her eyes. It was an obvious jibe at the lecture she had handed the kid on telephone etiquette after his fob-up.

"Why hello, Mole. It's delightful to hear from you." Brac was keeping a perfectly straight face, but his feet were tapping out the beat to one of his favorite metal tunes as he spoke. "Certainly, sir – anything to make your life an easier one."

Nyx was trying to smother her customary giggle at her brother's antics into a sour grunt in an effort to maintain her front of ire. Alec was covering his mouth with a fist in order to ward off his laughter at the mental picture of an utterly bewildered Mole on the other end of the line.

Max was completely tuned out and had no idea what was going on – which was just as well, or she would have probably cuffed Alec a good one for finding humor in Brac's sassiness just then.

"Mother," Brac cupped a hand over the receiver and flicked his fingers at Max, "Mole would like to speak with you…at your leisure, of course."

"Coming." Max snapped out of the hypnotic state that the black and white lines on the paper in her hand had been lulling the tired woman into. She slid out of her seat and stalked over to take the phone from a highly-amused Brac.

_This had better be good, Mole_, was what Max wanted to say, _I'm tired and pissed off and plus it's past seven thirty – you're not allowed to call us after seven-thirty and you know it!_

Instead she forced out a "Max here."

"Listen, I dunno what you're doin' to that kid o' yours," Mole drawled into her ear, "But you sure as heck might think about stoppin' him from turnin' into a complete fruitcake 'fore he gets pummeled for it!"

"Well besides adjusting my parenting methods to satisfy your tastes, Mole," Max barked, "what can I do for you?"

"You can tell Alec that if he keeps ignoring my calls on his cell phone, I'm gonna shut down access to the armory and let the whole damn thing go to pot!" Mole retorted, and Max could hear him pause to take a drag of his cigar, "If he don't show that pretty mug o' his at the meeting tomorrow, Maxie, there's gonna be war! I'll make sure of it!"

Max swallowed hard as she cast Alec a suspicious frown, "There'll be a meeting tomorrow, Mole – don't sweat it."

"And Alec?"

"He'll be there." She responded affirmatively, ignoring the baleful look her mate was shooting her way as Alec finally figured out just where the conversation between Max and Mole was heading.

"Tomorrow then, Maxie – and remind Alec it's his turn to bring the smokes." Mole's statement prompted a flare of indignation from Max. She'd seen Alec indulge in an occasional cigar with his scaly compadre – though her mate was careful that neither of his kids was ever in the vicinity at the time.

It was a rare event – and since Brac had hit his turbulent teen years, Alec had stopped altogether so as to avoid becoming a hypocrite if his son ever took up the practice and Alec had to put his foot down.

Or so he had told his mate. Max seethed as she hung up the phone and turned on Alec with a deadly gleam in her eye.

"What'd Mole want?" Alec queried stonily, looking up from the biology sheet his frustrated son was shoving at him.

"We need to talk." Max replied vehemently, turning and heading out the front door without another word.

Alec sighed heavily and stood up from the table, squeezing Brac's shoulder apologetically as he ambled after his needled mate and closed the door quietly behind him.

Brac raised his eyebrows and turned to cast his sister a knowing glance. "Did you put'em back yet, Nyx?"

"What's it to you?" His sister retorted with a slight cocking of her head that would have sent Brac into convulsive laughter at the ridiculous air the action gave off under normal circumstances.

But this evening was finding Brac even more sullen and irritated then ever. And for once, he had a reason to be feeling that way.

"What's it to me? I gotta kick your ass for palming smokes from the storehouse and not putting the damn things back where you found'em – _that's_ what it is to me, Nyxie!" Brac rested both hands on the table and glared long and hard at his sister, "You _promised_, kiddo…"

"I know, Brac!" Nyx whined in protest, but he ruthlessly pursued the matter.

"It's all damn fine to say you know, Nyx, but it's been a month now and I'm still catchin' you in all manner of nooks and crannies with those disgusting cigs in your mouth and I ain't tolerating it one more goddamned day – you got that?"

It was amazing how much Brac's 'lecturing face' was a pure duplicate of Alec's – eyebrows raised, jaw set, and one finger stabbing in the direction of his victim.

_Always the finger…and the 'you got that'_, Nyxie thought distractedly as she squirmed under Brac's steadfast glare.

"Ugh! You're the epitome of 'hypocrite', you know that, Brac?"

Brac's eyebrows gathered at the crest of his forehead, "Do I smoke?"

"No," Nyx crossed her arms and smiled tightly, "But you intravenously feed yourself a whole lotta other crap!"

"Or so you speculate." Brac returned the plastic smile and then began clearing the plates. He gathered from the look on his mother's face that she and Alec were going to be at it for a while.

"You got one day to return the smokes, Nyx, or I'm ratting you out to the parents."

"I'll save you the trip." Nyx retorted scathingly as she snapped the lids back onto the containers of food and restocked the fridge, "Mom found'em in my stuff this afternoon."

"Well that explains the moping, on all three fronts." Brac paused from where he was scraping off the dishes to eye his sister critically, "Wait – you didn't get dead once Dad found out?"

Nyx drew herself up haughtily, "Just cuz I'm in the doghouse doesn't mean you get to hear about it, Brac! Now shut up and clear the racks!"

Brac shrugged callously and proceeded to do so, "Typical." He muttered under his breath, though he was fully aware his genetically-empowered kid sister was hearing every syllable. "I show up half an hour after curfew and get it knocked back thirty minutes for the next week. My darling sister turns into a puffer for a whole freaking month and gets what? A tongue-lashing!"

"You're gonna get a lashing of a whole different kind if you don't shut your face, Brac!" Nyx was suddenly behind him and leaping onto his back, pounding on his shoulder blades with all the rage she had been keeping pent-up since that afternoon.

"Get off before you hurt yourself, Nyxie!" Brac reached behind him and grabbed Nyx's belt with one hand and her collar with the other in an effort to untangle himself from the outraged girl.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Alec called out as he and Max reentered the front room and caught sight of the struggle, "What the hell's this? We leave the two o' you alone for five minutes and it's full-on war?"

"Nyx, get off your brother this instant!" Max was already inside the kitchen area, but seemed unwilling to resort to physicality right just then. Besides, stern insistence was usually all it took with Nyxie.

Brac managed to yank Nyx off his back, but her landing was less then graceful and she hit the linoleum with a thud. Nyx broke into a somersault and slammed her feet into the side of Brac's knee as her brother began to turn, sending him smashing against the sink counter with a sharp inhale of pain.

"Fuck!"

"Alright that's enough!" Max grabbed Nyx into an uncomfortable position of restraint and yanked her onto her feet as the girl struggled to attack Brac once more. "You okay?" Max asked Brac quickly, noting the pale expression that had come over her son's face and the hand he was clutching to his kneecap.

Brac shook his head, teeth grit tightly, "I dunno what, but somethin' nasty just went on with it."

"For God's sake, Nyx, get ahold o' yourself!" Alec yelled, moving forward to loom over the girl as she kicked and writhed in Max's grip. Nyx ceased her struggling at the menacing tenor in her father's voice, but her flushed face remained twisted with anger.

"Let go of me!" She barked at Max.

"Once I know you ain't gonna go in for round two, I'll consider it!" Max replied rigidly, easing up but not relinquishing her hold on Nyx.

"I won't!" Nyx insisted, and Max released her compliantly. Nyx shoved her hands away the moment they were no longer clutching the young girl and backed off a few feet to vent.

"You don't _ever_ talk about me like that again, Brac – you hear me? _Ever_!" She yelled, crooking a finger at her brother, who, despite the evident pain he was in, seemed to be ignoring Nyx completely as he examined his knee.

"Well one of you had _better_ start talkin', and fast!" Alec stated as he nodded at Brac's injured leg, "What happened?"

"Feels fractured!" Brac growled, glaring at Nyx for the first time since their spat.

"I hope it is! I hate you, Brac…" Nyx's guns were still blazing unrepentantly.

"You are _not_ gonna talk that way, Nyx!" Max stepped in front of her daughter, "Not in my house!"

"Well fine!" Nyx stomped her feet towards the door before anyone saw it coming, "I'll _leave_ 'your house' and exercise my right of freedom of speech outside!" Her pride was smarting more then ever at the turn of events which had somehow reversed the roles that Nyx had tagged for her and Brac. She wanted to flee from the befuddled, angry eyes of her parents and perform some heroic feat that would restore her to her rightful position as the Little Angel of the McDowell clan.

But first she needed a smoke. Her hands were starting to tremble and Nyx was well aware that a great deal of her sudden breakdown had to do with the cravings she was experiencing right then.

Nyx evidently hadn't had much recent experience with going head-on against her parents, however. And as she reached for the door handle and felt a strong hand clamp down on her own, Nyx really should have remembered that her fiercely willful streak had originated from a much stronger culmination of Max and Alec's.

"Nyx, this is ridiculous! You're acting like a five year-old!" Alec remonstrated as he removed her hand from the door handle and used his grip on her wrist to turn his daughter to face him.

"No, you're _treating_ me like one and now you're suddenly floored when I start behaving accordingly!" Nyx yelled as she stomped her foot for emphasis.

"That isn't true and you know it." Alec caught Nyx's eyes with his own and held them severely, "But if you're gonna be throwing full-blown _temper tantrums_ from now on, your mother and I might start thinkin' about it!"

"Alec!" Max's worried voice calling to him from behind the kitchenette caused his gaze to flicker in her direction.

Max was examining Brac's knee with a concerned expression etched across her features, "I think we should take him to the hospital. This looks bad."

"It feels worse!" Brac was clutching the edge of the counter and had locked his jaw, most likely in an effort to stave off the scream he was very close to belting out.

"Well let's take him to the med centre and see if Haik can't do somethin' about it first!" Alec insisted, and Nyx, sensing an opportunity to slink away and sulk in the privacy of her own room, began to ease her wrist out of Alec's grasp.

His hand tightened around it and instead he pulled her along behind him as the X5 hustled into the kitchen to get a better look at Brac's injury.

Alec winced. Brac had rolled up his trouser leg and was looking ashen-faced at the hideous swelling lump that his kneecap was rapidly becoming.

"Alec, this is no time for your prejudice regarding state hospitals!" Max stated shortly as she stood up and placed a comforting hand on Brac's shoulder, "He's gonna need an X-ray and possibly an operation as well."

"Mom, a painkiller would be real sweet right about now…" The way Brac gasped out the words had Alec relinquishing his hold on Nyx's wrist and moving to his son's side instantly. Alec's judgment proved true, and his strong arm steadied his son just as Brac swooned.

"Whoa there, pal." Alec wrapped an arm under Brac's for further support and nodded at Max, "'Kay, I give. Let's go."

"All of us?" The belligerence in Nyx's voice had weakened dramatically as she beheld the effect of her previous fit with growing guilt in her eyes. She crinkled up her nose and turned to Max, who was glaring at the girl in disbelief.

"I…I'm just sayin' that Dad's never any help in the hospital!" Nyx defended herself with a surrendering raise her hands, "You remember when I had to get my shots? Dad was a nervous wreck the whole time – no offence!" She added, throwing a placating smile Alec's way which always seemed to disarm him.

"Yeah well _you_," If the smile still had any power, it was lost on Alec due to the fact that he was too engrossed in helping Brac limp through the front room to even grace it with a glance, "ain't goin' anywhere but your room at the moment so just chew on that one, kid!"

"Alec, I'll take him." Max had grabbed up the car keys and was attempting to gently sever Alec's hold on Brac, "You've only ever been to the X-ray department _once_ whereas I can run circles 'round their red tape by now."

"Yeah well true as that may be, you weren't the one runnin' circles 'round Seattle without a sector pass for months on end, now were ya, Maxie?" Alec kept a steadying grip on Brac with one of his arms and grabbed his and Brac's jackets from off the coat rack with the other.

Max could have contested the validity of that statement, but she chose to do otherwise. One appraisal of her mate's expression, body language and tone of voice informed Max succinctly that Alec was intent on taking his boy to the hospital come hell or high water – and that X5-494 was equally intent on escaping their apartment before he lost control and whaled the hide off his cantankerous little girl.

"Okay, well buzz me when you're through." Max held up the car keys and Alec grasped them in his fingers. She held on for a moment and looked him dead in the eye.

"Look at me and tell me you're alright." Max whispered, and Alec's devil-may-care grin streaking sarcastically across his face did nothing to reassure her.

"I'm always alright, Max."

Alec knew he hadn't fooled her. Max had always been able to read him like an open book, the same way he did with her. It was a talent the pair of them had sported since their early years back at Manticore – and when Alec and Max pooled their resources, there were very few individuals on the planet (and Brac and Nyx were not among those chosen few) who could hide their feelings from the couple.

_Well if she's feelin' dumpy, it's her bad_. Alec knew the thought was immature, but he allowed it nonetheless as he swerved his Lexus down a side street to avoid the perpetual traffic jamming the conventional route to the nearest hospital. _Max knew better then to pair me off against Nyx and hope I'd come out on top. If she'd've just handled this herself, I doubt it woulda come to blows._

"Dad, slow down before you get us tailed!" Brac was clutching the ridge of his seat so hard his knuckles were as pale as his face – both from the throbbing pain in his knee and the fact that Alec was maneuvering the car through a tight maze of back alleyways at 85 MPH.

"Just makin' sure we get there before you pass out on me, Brac." Alec retorted, but the speed gauge needle dropped below 60 shortly after, to Brac's great relief.

"Dad, come on, it's not like I'm shot or anything!" The boy was taking shallow breaths to fend off his agony, yet he still managed to shoot back a response.

"No but you're breathin' like it all the same!" Alec lurched as he shifted gears and pulled out onto a main road which afforded them a view of the dismal lights of the local hospital.

"Well maybe if I'd managed to swallow some _painkillers_ before our _one-hour_ drive…" Brac began dourly, and Alec shook his head.

"Brac, you know you're allergic to penicillin." The cruel but proven fact had presented a great deal of difficulty for his son over the kid's lifespan – especially since Brac seemed to have inherited Alec's tolerance to pain. "Look we'll be there in five, alright? Just hang in there, buddy."

Brac snorted out a laugh and Alec's eyes didn't move from the road.

"You mind tellin' me what's so freaking humorous about this whole thing?"

"'This whole thing' is what's funny, Dad!" Brac was now grinning from ear to ear and shaking his head, much to his father's annoyance. "I mean, Nyxie somehow managing to do my knee in, you bein' the one to take me the doctor instead of Mom – I mean, come on, you gotta laugh at the irony of the situation, if nothin' else!"

Alec scowled and pursed his lips, gripping the steering wheel harder as he eased the car through the entrance to the hospital's car park.

"Dude, seriously." Brac eyed his dad as they backed into a free space, "You're the one who always said you gotta laugh instead o' cry, right?"

Alec switched off the purring engine and cast his son a brief expression. He did a double take.

Brac's green eyes were casing his father in soft concern. It had been nearly a month since Alec had seen his boy's eyes look that way for anything or anyone.

"True." Alec uttered the word a lot more quietly then he had intended to originally. Brac was tactfully requesting that the X5 lighten up and stop blaming himself for the present circumstances – and Alec knew his kid had a valid point. Freaking out over a situation had never been 494's most potent means of coping.

"So just be thankful that I'm takin' your advice." Brac wrapped up his statement with a flashing grin that had obviously cost him effort and disappeared as fast as it had come.

"For once." Alec retorted in a mock-gruff voice which quickly morphed into a 'hey!' of protest as Brac plowed his fist weakly into Alec's shoulder.

"Quit gettin' worked up or you'll give yourself a heart-attack." Alec unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, closing his door and moving quickly around to the passenger side as Brac began to do likewise.

"Come on, kid." Alec said with more then just a hint of resigned warmth in his voice as he eased Brac into a standing position and threw the boy's arm over his shoulder, shutting the door with his foot. "Let's brave the dragons."

"Oh God," Brac muttered in-between winces as he accidentally put weight on his knee, "Just _please_ don't have another panic attack and knock out three o' the doctors like you did last time or I'll bail on you, I swear!"

"Ingrate." Alec growled.

"Pussy." Brac responded with a sly grin which promptly disappeared from his face as Alec cuffed him lightly upside the head in response. "Ow!"

"Please?" Nyx was protesting in a pleading tone of voice, hand clasped together imploringly in a heart-rending display of contriteness.

"Hey when'd your drama teacher change?" was Alec's merciless response as he stuffed both his and Max's bags with the lunches they'd packed earlier. "New one's a darn sight better then Rolf."

"Ugh!" Nyx swung her leg at the air ever so slightly in frustration and turned to work her charms on Max. "Mom, come on! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity! You can't deny me my exploratory years!"

"This isn't an exploratory _year_, it's an exploratory _month_!" Max stated matter-of-factly as she laced up her boots, "And frankly, Nyx, you should be thankful it wasn't longer. It's gonna take _four_ o' those before your brother's back at his peak!"

"So let me go with Gem to the museum and then extend it to _two_ months!" Nyx persisted, eyes glistening with unshed tears and eyebrows furrowed up pathetically. "I'll grin and bear it, I promise!"

"This isn't about you 'grinning and bearing' _anything_." Alec unplugged his cell phone from its charger and checked the battery status before shoving it into his pocket, "It's about you facin' the consequences of your actions the same way anybody else in life has to when they intentionally cause someone else a lotta pain."

"Well maybe I'm wrong," Nyx's voice was beginning to harden as she finally accepted that her parents were not going to budge on the issue, "but I doubt you came back to Manticore fresh from a mission and got the word 'grounded' stamped on your debriefing!"

"Nyx, you're pushin' it, kid!" Alec let loose a warning shot before Max had even opened her mouth to do so.

"Start bringing Manticore into this and you'll be in way over your head before you know it!" Max added as both she and Alec stood stock-still and eyed their daughter challengingly. Brac and Nyx knew better then to drop the word 'Manticore' in any debate unless they were _intentionally_ after a reaction of the less-then-pleasant sort.

The pealing of Alec's cell phone preempted whatever response a somewhat shaken Nyx was about to make. Alec pulled out the device and scanned the text message displayed across the screen.

"Alright, it's Mole. He's pissed. C'mon, Max, we'd better hit the road before he sullies my phone with another of his filthy messages." Alec pulled on his leather jacket and slung his backpack over his shoulder as Max did likewise.

"Fine! Then it's down to _you_ two to call Gem and explain to her that you're _denying_ me permission to attend my studies today!" Nyx threw out one final card along with a particularly mordant glare as she jabbed her fists into her hips.

Alec resisted the urge to laugh. Nyx had definitely inherited Max's melodramatic side – a trait which the mellow fellows of the McDowell family found inherently annoying yet amusing all at once.

Except that since Brac had hit twelve, the word drama_-king_ had suddenly cropped up in Alec's mental dictionary and been drawn on at an alarmingly increasing rate.

"No actually that's down to _you_." Max's blunt statement shattered the momentary lull in Alec's concentration and he shook himself inwardly while rising to the bait Nyxie was holding out in the form of an adamant 'no freaking way!'

"_Yes_ freaking way – you're gonna call her and explain that you're grounded cuz you smoked stolen cigarettes for a month and then fractured your brother's knee in a hissy fit." Alec shrugged with his staple pissed-off grin, "Though personally I'd use that sweet-talkin' skill o' yours and make it sound just a little less incriminating."

He hazarded a glance at Max and she raised an eyebrow appreciatively, evidently satisfied with the clear message Alec had just sent Nyx's way – that if she refused to personally take responsibility for her actions, then her parents would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God. And Nyx's relatively untarnished reputation throughout TC would be irreparably soiled.

Nyx's lips tightened into a thin line before she let out a spectacular groan of frustration and tore from the room, the sound of her door slamming shut behind her vibrating through the hallway.

"Well gentlemen…ladies," Alec nodded at the occupants of the dusty table in the basement of TC central. "Shall we commence?"

"Let's get this goddamned meeting outta the way." The congruent-though-coarser statement issued from behind the cigar in Mole's mouth received grunts of acknowledgement from the room's more openly pissed-off residents. Only Max, Alec and Dix were displaying any carnal manifestations of diplomacy – and the irony of the situation was that if a sensor attuned to detecting frayed nerves and depleted patience levels were to do a take on the room's residents, Alec, Max and Dix would have fried any such device the moment it came in their vicinity.

"I'm with you on that, buddy." Alec responded in a strained voice of amicability while turning briefly to give his mate which only she understood. Max laid a hand on Alec's thigh underneath the table and squeezed reassuringly.

"Are ya now?" Mole removed the cigar from his mouth and leant forward from his position opposite Alec, "Well that's real funny, cuz this whole damn meeting would never've had to happen if you'd just returned my goddamn phone calls and made the cuts I asked ya to!"

"You were going behind our backs?" Luke's head shot up angrily, "I knew we couldn't trust you to play fair, you dirty lizard-headed sneak!"

"I think…" Max began to put in a plug for some order, but the bickering had begun, and once it got rolling, there was rarely a peaceful means of ending it.

"You watch yourself, geek-boy – I may be an ugly bastard but at least I ain't pourin' TC's money down the frigging drain!" Mole barked, standing up and planting his hands firmly on the tabletop.

"That so, huh?" Luke followed suit.

"Damn right it's so!"

"Well that's awful interesting, cuz TC hasn't needed to use any ammo besides rifles to ward off the neighbourhood watch for ten years now, Molie!"

"That's _on_ the record!"

"Are you sayin' there's something we should know?"

"Nothin' o' the sort – if you don't know, it's cuz ya shouldn't!"

Alec and Max exchanged frustrated glances, and Dix just shook his head as Luke and Mole's arguing digressed from bad to worse – and rose an octave or two with each jab-and-counter-jab.

"It's easy enough for you lab rats holed up behind your PC screens to insist everythin's fine and there's no need for TC to keep our weapons stocked and up to date," Mole was leaning over the table and was nearly nose-to-nose with the much smaller Luke by now, "but try tellin' that to my team on sentinel duty and they'll laugh ya outta town!"

"It's lab rats like _us_ that keep the _surveillance system_ runnin' and do half o' your 'sentinel' work _for_ you in the process!"

"I've had just about enough o' this crap," Alec muttered briefly to Max and Dix before standing up and slamming a fist down onto the table with a resounding _thud_. "That's it! If the two o' you can't pipe down and settle this debate in a grown-up manner, I'm designating a corner and puttin' your noses against it till your heads screw back on!"

"Ever the parent." Mole scowled sardonically as he took another puff on his cigar and eyed Alec skeptically.

Alec raised his eyebrows and dipped his head to the side, "Yeah well this _parent's_ got Dix and Maxie on his side, and between the three o' us, we're instigatin' a hand system before this meeting goes to pot!"

"The hell you are!" Mole grouched sourly, but Luke, who was easily the more malleable of the two arguing nomalies, rolled his eyes and threw himself back into his seat with a scowl of resignation.

"In case it escaped you, Mole, Alec's chairing – so pipe down!" Max also put her foot down as she tapped the leather folder on the table in front of her mate. "This is the agenda and I'm not seein' a finance point anywhere in the mix!"

"The 'finance point' is the _whole_ goddamned agenda, Max!" Mole dug his heels in, and Rait, a swindling yet ambitious X6 who handled the influx of supplies into TC, planted her boots cross-legged up onto the table with a frown.

"Not today it isn't, Molie-boy! We've gotta whole new world of problems cropping up since yesterday's events which I _think_ take precedence over this money quarrel!"

"Thank you!" Alec seconded Rait's statement as he resumed his seat, "Hey, feet off the table." He added absently with a light slap of his hand against Rait's arm.

The young woman complied with a highly-amused smile, "I think I stand with Molie-boy on that statement he made 'bout you and Max becoming _way_ too paternal in your off-hours!"

"Quit callin' me Molie-boy!" The scaly nomalie rasped out irritably as he eased into his chair and spreading his arms, "Well? Are we gonna have a meeting or aren't we?"

Alec relaxed visibly and the tight fists his hands had curled opened to press flat against the table once more. "For those o' you who evidently missed the newsflash, Gareth Horn, head of the CATL activists, has just been murdered."

"CATL?" Luke queried and then gulped back the rest of his statement and raised a hand under the copious glares he received from Max, Dix and Alec.

"Citizens Against Transgenic Legislation." The latter explained briefly before continuing, "They've been snappin' at our heels ever since we became legitimate citizens of mankind."

"Been makin' life a livin' hell for transgenics nation-wide," Mole was evidently still standing up inside and refusing to acknowledge the hand system, "and once they went global, hell spilled over onto the rest o' our sort the world over!"

"What I don't understand," Rait shot a slender finger skyward and grinned lovingly at Alec as he frowned at her, "is how one of 'our sort' could be so bleeding stupid as to pull a stunt like this – especially right now with the topsy-turvy state of political affairs!"

"Oh I doubt it was one of ours." Dix spoke up for the first time, "In fact, most likely it was one o' _theirs_."

"CATL, you mean?" Rait crinkled her nose dubiously, "Gosh I thought only Manticore made'em that driven!"

"Well _regardless_," Alec was looking increasingly stern from his position at the helm of the dysfunctional meeting, "if we don't come up with some solids on who did the dirty, and _fast_, ITU's gonna be over a barrel." He raised his eyebrows and paused to let the statement sink in before speaking once more, "So? Any ideas, people?"

"I got one!" The vindictive tone lacing Mole's voice was enough to inform those who had known the nomalie for any length of time that he was about to grind an axe. "We could stock up on some decent _weapons_ for a start in case they decide to open-fire on TC!"

"Uh _or_," Luke snapped brusquely before Rait could lay a cautioning hand on his shoulder, "we could upgrade our _Internet_ so we'd have enough damn bandwith to access CATL's members-only websites and do some digging!"

"Or we could buy two _body bags_ and fill'em with the next pair o' idiots who mouth off in this meeting!" Jace, an older X5 whose specialty at Manticore had been intel on just about any common subject under the sun, intervened harshly before things took yet another turn for the worse. "I've gotta side with Luke on this one, though." He turned to face Alec and Max, "CATL's members-only site would be a spiffy first step if we're serious about chalking them up on the suspect list."

"I think right now we can write up just about _everyone's_ names till we know for sure it _wasn't_ a transgenic." Alec sighed and rubbed his forehead, glad for the murmurs of acquiescence he received from the table's occupants shortly afterwards.

"So how do we go about finding that out then?" Max quietly picked up the torch for brief moment to allow her mate a second of reprisal. Alec looked like he was coming down with a headache.

"We pull out the blacklist!" Luke's emphatic statement prompted a groaned "Oh come on, Luke," from Alec and a staunch "No," from Max.

Rait, on the other hand, looked downright gleeful as she poked one finger into the air and the other at the McDowell's. "_You_ come on, Alec! We _know_ you guys compiled one! Where's it at? I wanna see my record!"

"You ain't got one, kid – get over it." Alec rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in exasperation as the other members of the meeting began to toss out comments supporting Luke's. "That thing is way outdated! I told you, we don't refer to it anymore! It isn't fair – half the people on that list did an about-face years ago!"

"What isn't _fair_ is you forcin' your parental morality regardin' backlogs of evil on the _rest_ of us!" Mole barked as he twirled his cigar between two fingers, "Goin' over that list and doin' a lil' scrounging around would save us a butt-load o' time, and I'm willin' to exchange that for a few broken hearts right about now!"

"Well lucky for the poor kids on that list, you don't make that decision!" Max had felt the slam at her and Alec's principles a little harder then she'd intended to, but was doing her best to keep a lid on it.

"No, but this committee does, and I'm movin' for a vote to get things rollin'." Mole rose to his feet and snapped his fingers in the air to command the attention of the room's residents. "All in favor of pullin' out the blacklist and havin' a sort-through to ensure transgenic innocence on this matter, raise your hand!"

Max felt her frown lines deepen as a confirmed majority sided with Mole with a silent raising of their hands. Only she, Alec and Jace remained unconvinced.

Even Dix had his hand up. "Sorry, guys." He said quietly yet unapologetically, "It's the only way to speed things up here."

"Save it for the people on the blacklist, Dix." Alec responded in an equal tenor as he eyed the mutinous Mole with a menacing glare. "Fine. We'll pull it out and go over it tonight. Any volunteers?"

Predictably, the hand count was a darn sight shorter on that round. Mole and Rait were the only two who seemed to have balls enough to put their money where their mouths were.

"Okay then." Alec wasn't at all surprised – truth be told, he was even a little relieved that the majority of the weight would fall on his and Max's shoulders once again. They were both personally acquainted with a good deal of the blacklisters, and would 'handle with care' as many as was possible under the circumstances.

"Mole, Rait, the two o' you swing by our pad at seven this evening. We'll hash out the details and have the delegating done by nine, if our luck holds out."

Mole nodded compliantly, his temper evidently satiated by his triumph seconds earlier. "Am I bringin' the smokes or are you?"

"No smoking in the house."

Alec and Max had snapped out the words at the same time, but didn't miss a beat as they moved in for the kill.

"It's a new policy of ours." Max explained tightly, ignoring the exasperated-yet-amused expression on Mole's face at the statement.

"Well it took you long enough." The reptilian nomalie grunted with a raise of his eyebrows, "Are we allowed to bring our own beers or is there now a 'no alcohol' barrier in place?"

"Well you ain't drinkin' ours, that's for sure!" Alec was shouldering his bag and standing up, "Meeting adjourned, people! We'll reassemble at 14:00 tomorrow – in the meantime, Luke, Dix – the two o' you get started on cracking that website. We'll need to be in by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"We're gonna need to upgrade the server!" Dix insisted intractably, "There's not enough…"

"Just do it!" Alec ordered with a jab of his finger as he handed Max her bag. "C'mon, Max, let's get outta here before I break some_thing_ over some_one_!"

"I hear ya." Max patted Jace on the shoulder in a fleeting goodbye as she zipped up her jacket. Suddenly she paused and scrunched up her nose, twisting to face Alec. "Is that your phone?"

"Huh?" Alec was obviously focusing all his remaining efforts on getting himself and his mate out of the building and breathing free air as soon as possible. He evidently hadn't heard the buzzing of his cell phone in the pocket of his coat.

"Your phone's ringing!" Max repeated, a little clearer and a little louder, causing Alec to roll his eyes and mutter under his breath at what he deemed to be Max's condescending manner. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the device, thumbing it on with a scowl as he held it to his ear.

"Hello?...What's up, Gemmie?"

Max felt her insides twist reactively at the disbelieving glower that suddenly darkened Alec's face.

"Come again?"

"Nyx McDowell, what the hell were you thinking?"

Nyx cringed and held the payphone receiver an inch away from her ear to lessen the effect of her mother's less-then-quiet remonstrance.

"Answer me!" Max barked when she wasn't met with an instant response. She shifted her shoulder slightly to allow Alec more space. The man was leaning over at an awkward angle which enabled him and Max to make joint use of the cell phone.

"Nyx, you'd better start talkin', kid!" Alec growled down the line just as the rustle of Nyx pressing the side of her face against the pay phone sounded once more.

"I would if you'd just listen!" She stated in a voice that was quivering with fright but rang with obstinacy nonetheless.

"We're listening, now answer the question!" Max forced out a milder response…shortly before contradicting herself by continuing, "What were you thinking running off by yourself like that? Huh? What if the neighborhood watch had gotten hold of you? Do you have any idea what could have happened, Nyx?"

"Look I was careful, okay?" Nyx insisted in a high-pitched whine, "I made it all the way to the crossroads without even being _noticed_, and Gem only saw me cuz I wanted her too!"

"You can count your lucky stars she _did_ or you'd be in a helluva lot more trouble!" Alec replied sharply into the speaker as he glared at the imaginary visage of his daughter in front of him, "Where's the van at right now?"

"Uh…" Nyx faltered and glanced outside the phone box, looking over Gem's shoulder at the rusty old Ford which was ferrying a group of fledging transgenics to the museum. "Dunno."

"Well find out, and fast!"

"Okay, okay!" Nyx balked huffily, "Would the two of you stop yelling and gimme a break here?"

Max barely managed to rescue the cell phone by moving it out of Alec's reach as he dove in for the kill. "Alec, not now!" She hissed, holding the phone in one hand and her disgruntled boy's collar in the other.

"Fine, _you_ get it outta her. I'll be in the car!" There was an almost visible trail of steam rising from Alec's ears as he turned and wended his way through the car park of TC central without waiting for Max to reply.

_Thank God_, Max held the phone to her ear. She was easily as livid as Alec about the fact that their eleven year-old daughter had abandoned the protective cover of Terminal City and wheedled her way through watchdog territory simply for the purpose of catching up with Gem's ride at a junction nearly three miles out.

Alec and Max were not overly-protective of their children… considering that at any given time Brac and Nyx could be snatched and used as leverage against their influential parents by the Conclave, disgruntled ex-Manticorians, terrorist organizations seeking transgenic manpower, or one of CATL's kindred assemblies.

The fact that all four of these factions had made a grab at their kids at one point or another meant Alec and Max were slightly more conscientious then the average suburban set of parents when it came to their children and the 'great outdoors'.

"Mom, are you still there?" Nyx's voice sounded grudgingly over the receiver.

"I'm here. Where are you guys?"

"Westbourne Hill Road…it's just off the side of the…"

"I know where it is. Tell Gem we'll be there in twenty minutes tops." Max was about to hit the hang-up button but thought better of it, "And Nyx?"

"What?" The young girl snapped.

"You'd better start prayin' I can get your Dad calmed down before we reach you."

"Is he really that pissed?"

"'Pissed' is an understatement." Max left the foreboding statement looming in the air as she terminated the call.

Getting to the pick-up point, exchanging brief apologies with a flustered Gem, and kicking up a cloud of dust while pulling back onto the highway took a grand total of half-an-hour. What seemed to take forever, though, was the drive back home.

Silence reigned in the Lexus the entire duration of the twenty-minute trip – a suffocating, oppressive silence that grew so thick a knife couldn't cut it. Nyx sat in the back seat with her arms crossed and her bottom lip caught between her teeth, scowling at any pedestrians who were unlucky enough to make eye contact with the sulking young girl.

Max rode shotgun without her usual barrage of insistence that she could handle the Lexus as smoothly as Alec any given day – mainly because she was keen on keeping her mate's hands and mind on the steering wheel and off of Nyx.

Alec's aura was the iciest of the three McDowell's. He drove in utter silence, jaw clenched tightly and eyes never leaving the road. But his grip on the steering wheel would have left an indent had it persisted for a couple of hours – and as for his driving…Max felt her teeth grind together on more then one occasion as he ran two red lights and narrowly missed hitting a crowd of unruly youths at a pelican crossing.

By the time Alec inched the Lexus into the back lot of their apartment building, the tension frothing in the air was doing everybody's head in. The three hiked the stairs, not a word breathed out as they approached their door under the weak and flickering hallway light.

Alec twisted the keys in the lock and shoved the door open, stepping back and motioning for Max and Nyx to go in first. His girls complied without a word, flipping on the doorway overhead light as they dumped their bags on the floor.

Brac was propped up on the sofa with the remote in one hand and a can of Coke in the other. He didn't move his gaze from the TV. Instead he tossed out the only sort of remark that both he and his father felt comfortable making when perilous situations presented themselves…a wisecrack.

"Have a good day at the office, honey?" Brac stated rhetorically, hearing but not observing the scene of Nyx making a beeline for her bedroom and Alec's deep voice thundering out "Nyx Tinga McDowell, get your ass back in here before I turn it a whole new color!"

"I'll take that as a no!" Brac twisted to look behind him and then froze at the pure fury emanating from Alec. His gaze shifted to Max in a wide-eyed look of apprehension which hardened into a careless sneer when his mother's eyes locked with his. Brac rolled his eyes and turned back to the TV as he shifted in his seat to afford his table-bound knee a more comfortable angle, took a swig of his drink, and attempted to ignore the roundhouse duel that had just commenced.

Nyx bedroom door slammed shut, almost – but not quite – drowning out Alec's yell of "Nyx!"

Max's eyes went wide and she blurred in-between Alec and the hallway as the outraged X5 unbuckled his belt, yanked it out of its loops and doubled it over in one smooth, deadly move. Alec stormed after his daughter, eyes crackling with a darkness that sent shivers down Max's spine.

Alec had been driven over the edge. Max hadn't seen him this angry for years – and she knew a great deal of it could be chalked down to a turbulent sea of fear underneath the layers of lava spilling from the once-dormant volcano of Alec's raging temper.

Alec and Ben – and Brac, now that Max thought about it – had the same wild streak to their otherwise complacent demeanor. If pushed too far…and each of the three had varying limits…they would suddenly morph into a completely different person – one driven by a feral urge to act compulsively on whatever emotion was saturating their mind. In Alec's case…red-hot fury coupled with the worry for a truant child's safety that had assaulted his core…

"Alec, no!" Max insisted, a firm yet pleading tone in her voice and features as she grabbed hold of his shirt and threw him back a good few feet. She was fully aware that once the rage blackout passed, Alec would never be able to forgive himself for what he was about to do – and was determined to save him from himself, even if it meant knocking some sense into his dumb-ass head.

"You're angry…" Max began.

"Damn straight!" Alec yelled.

"Yeah well if you do this now, you're gonna be regretting it for the next ten years and I'm not puttin' our family through that, Alec!" Max stated determinedly, her rigid stance on equal par with the hardness in her eyes as she balled her fists up by her sides and held her mate's gaze steadfastly.

Fortunately, Max's words hit home, and Alec's blazing green eyes dimmed in response as he squared his shoulders and took a deep breath, turning his head away from Max and biting his lip.

Max relaxed but remained rooted to her spot, eyeing Alec cautiously to determine his next move. "So what's it gonna be?"

Brac's favorite show was still blaring noisily from the TV, but the boy had twisted around in his seat ever so slightly to unobtrusively watch the showdown between his parents with poorly-veiled alarm.

Alec sniffed and slowly turned to face Max, tears glistening in his eyes. "Fuck, Maxie, she's just a kid."

"She's _our_ kid, Alec." Max replied softly, inching forward until she was only a foot away from her mate and looking up into his eyes. "We'll get her through this."

Alec snorted and turned his head away once more, eyes squinted in an effort to stave off the tears of frustration, "Yeah well it's because o' us she's in this mess in first place, isn't it Max?"

"That's not true…"

"Goddamn it, Maxie, quite runnin' away from the truth when it's starin' you in the face!" Alec raised his voice but didn't yell – and didn't cause his mate to flinch either. "We can't fucking do it, Max! We couldn't stop Nyx from goin' into heat and getting into smokes and runnin' away and we couldn't protect Brac from Linda..."

"Dad! Don't make me limp over there!" Brac yelled indignantly from his position on the sofa.

The threat, however ridiculous, had a sufficient effect on its object. Alec stiffened and shot Brac a mortified expression which suggested he had entirely forgotten his son's presence, before brushing hastily past Max and into their bedroom without a second look backwards.

Max's eyebrows gathered up in dubious concern as she glanced from her mate's retreating back to her son's green eyes watching her intently from the other side of the room.

"Well? Aren't you gonna go after him and give him your lil' 'we'll get through this bitch' speech?" Brac's voice, though ringing with a faint echo of sarcasm and more then just a hint of a bite, convinced Max that Alec's desolate statement of guilt and failure had angered his boy – but not any more then usual.

"Think it's what he needs right now?" Max queried, honestly soliciting Brac's opinion on the matter. Despite how well she knew Alec, the man was still as unpredictable as she was at times, and Max had noticed that both Alec and Brac had an uncanny knack for knowing precisely what the other was in need of (or _not_ in need of) when things went sideways.

Brac snorted with a wry grin, "Oh come on, mother, it works like a charm when _I_ decide to buy it!"

"Alright." Max nodded with a downcast expression as she began to saunter towards her bedroom.

"Mom?"

The cautious question mark ringing in her son's voice caused Max to U-turn and poke her head around the hallway corner.

"Yeah?"

"Dad wasn't actu…he was, wasn't he?" Brac looked truly concerned and his green eyes were widened out of the usual slits they had been gathered into over recent weeks.

"He was what, Brac?" Max queried, taken back by the rare display of vulnerability from her normally guarded boy and anxious to know the cause.

"There was a look in his eyes I've never seen before." Brac's jaw clenched and his eyebrows angled up in a visible display of distress, "He woulda hided Nyxie something awful if you hadn't stopped him."

Max shook her head, "I don't think he would've..."

"Yes he would." Brac cut her off, not angrily – just matter-of-factly, "And, Mom, we both know it, so let's not pretend it isn't so." He was emanating a false veneer of calm he often adopted when something had him terrified and he wasn't certain how to cope.

Max opened her mouth and started to ask another question, but Brac's fleeting moment of self-exposure was over. He slammed it shut with a wry snort and a shake of his head as he turned back to the TV.

"Ah well, just another day in the life of the dysfunctional McDowell family."

"Don't we know it." Max responded distractedly, sad eyes focused on her son's back as the kid hiked up the volume and nestled deeper into his seat to signify that the conversation was over.

Max's gait was slow and cautious as she took in the sight of Alec sitting, his back to her, on the edge of their bed, one hand rubbing his face and the other clenched into a tight fist and leaning on his knee.

He didn't move his gaze from the blinking lights of Terminal City as Max's hand crept softly onto his shoulder. But he did let out a quiet sigh and lean back to feel the comforting press of his mate's lithe body against his own, closing his eyes.

Max caressed the nape of Alec's neck and traced a finger around the circumference of his barcode in a manner which always served to calm his ruffled nerves.

"You remember what you told me when we found out I was pregnant with Brac?" She stated gently, a small smile tugging at her lips as the memory filled her mind, "I was twenty-one…we were both barely outta our teens."

"We were idiots." Alec grunted, eyes still shut.

"Hey, speak for yourself, wise-guy!" Max laughed and then shook her head, "I was so freaked out. TC was on the Conclave and the government's radar of elimination, not to mention they considered me the axis of evil at the time! Last thing I wanted was a kid in the mix."

"Yeah well it wasn't exactly planned on my end either." Alec reminded her gruffly as he opened his eyes and smiled despite himself, "I remember bein' scared shitless but since you were a helluva lot worse, I decided to play the knight in shining armor and feed you my classic lie of 'everything's gonna be okay'."

"It wasn't a lie, Alec." Max chided, climbing onto the bed and resting her chin on his shoulder, "And now it's my turn." She turned his jaw to latch onto Alec's eyes with her own and hold them fast. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Alec stared at her for a moment before a slow smirk appeared on his lips, "Nah, I think I was more convincing."

"Oh yeah?" Max laughed and grabbed hold of his collar, pulling him into a kiss. After a moment she moved back and raised an eyebrow saucily, "And how about now, Mr. Smart-Alec McDowell?"

"Mmm…" Alec glanced at the ceiling mock-contemplatively, pulling in his lips to taste the lingering after-effect of his mate testily. "Well that wasn't bad, but you're gonna have to do a helluva lot better then that, Mrs. Rambo-queen Mc…"

He didn't finish his sentence. The crushing press of Max's lips and the warm caress of her hands across his neck and jaw-line successfully distracted Alec from his jibing. He returned Max's searching kiss with the ardent force he knew full well she craved, tongue dueling viciously with hers as his hand cupped the small of her back and pressed her body against his, teasing her with its firmness and heat.

Things would have progressed from point A to B with rapidity had not the door to their room burst open and a lizard-like nomalie traipsed brazenly inside.

"Good God, you two are still at like rabbits after thirteen years! I'm amazed!" Mole sounded almost in awe as he took in the sight of Max and Alec untangling themselves and turning to face him with mordant glowers.

"What the hell are you doin' here?" Alec demanded, standing up and inadvertently displaying the elastic of his boxer shorts as his trousers hung on his hips.

"Seven o'clock, remember, or is your hard-drive on overheat?" Mole raised an eyebrow as he looked Alec up and down, "When you're dressed and Mr. Happy's gone back to sleep, would you mind gettin' things started? We're a lil' anxious to get movin' on this case before…"

"Get the hell outta our room!" Max barked incredulously, and Mole shrugged before calling out "Living room!" over his shoulder and, annoyingly, leaving the door wide open as he left.

"Max, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Alec grumbled as he re-looped his belt and buckled it into place once more.

"You are _not_ killing Mole; we've gone over that one, Alec!" Max reminded him as she pulled their curtains closed and hit the lightswitch.

"Yeah but that was always _you_ suggestin' we take him out cuz he tramples on our off-hours! Now it's _my_ turn, and I'm a little more pissed off with lizard-boy then normal!" Alec muttered as he shoved their respective backpacks into a cupboard and pulled off his jacket.

"Which part of our whacked-out lives has ever been normal, Alec?" Max sighed wearily as she opened a dusty trunk in the corner of a closet and procured a thin, leather folder.

Alec sighed heavily and glanced at the open door of their room, "Brac alright?"

Max wanted to shake her head but she stopped herself. Alec would face the repercussions of his rage blackout soon enough, and would deal with them in his own way. Right now, she needed his full concentration on the task at hand.

Max smiled and hoped to God it looked genuine as she looked down at her feet, "Said it was just another day in the life of the dysfunctional McDowell family."

"Shit," Alec breathed the word out almost inaudibly as he rubbed his forehead, "Max, I scared him bad."

Max had always marveled at how well Brac and Alec had always been able to read each other. She knew them both like the back of her hand (although Brac was beginning to morph into an entirely new – and not quite as loveable – individual), but the connection between father and son was so paranormal that it was almost creepy.

"You got angry, Alec. It happens to the best of us. Besides," Max reached out to stroke Alec's shoulder soothingly, "Brac's just as protective of Nyx as we are in his own way. I'm sure he gets how much _Nyxie_ scared _you_."

Alec's hand snatching hers caused Max to halt in her tracks and glance from their interlocked hands to her mate's pursed lips. Alec was evidently trying to say something that was difficult for him and was slugging it out with his inner demons. Max waited patiently and after a moment, she was rewarded by a small smile and a quick kiss on her forehead.

"You're my savin' grace, Maxie." Alec stated quietly as he moved a lock of Max's dark hair behind her ear, "Always have been."

Max returned her mate's heartfelt smile as she turned and strutted out the door, "All those years of pretending that savin' your ass wasn't my full-time job."

Max laughed as she heard the mocking hiss of an attacking cat – Alec's touché of a retort.

When they reached the living area, Max and Alec were greeted by the sight of Mole and a sheepish-looking Rait camped out on the sofas. Brac and Mole were engaged in what seemed to be a heated debate regarding the quality of Brac's less-then-first-rate TV show, and neither of the two acknowledged Max and Alec's presence as the X5s took the available seat slots – Max beside Rait and Alec on the right-hand end of Brac's two-seater sofa. Brac ignored his father entirely, but his muscles stiffened suddenly and both Alec and Max noticed the kid shift his seating to be further away from his dad.

"I'm just sayin' that back in my day, it was quality over quantity when it came to television!" Mole drawled as he took in the cheesy sci-fi series Brac was following, "But from the looks o' this show, all they air is a pile o' crap these days!"

"Brac, could you kill the boob tube? We gotta do some talkin' here." Alec interjected quietly, carefully - only to have his statement entirely disregarded as the tit-for-tat escalated.

"Look just cuz it ain't from the 20_20_'s and uses somethin' a little better then _ketchup_ for special effects," Brac was clearly wound up and on the verge of yelling, "does _not_ make it crap, Mole!"

"Says who?" Mole yapped, more then a little miffed at the continual digs at his age that young boy had been making since their argument had begun.

"Brac, come on, it's past seven and you still gotta do those biology sheets." Max was trying now – with absolutely no effect.

"Says _me_, and right now it's the word of a post-Pulse mind cultivated in an enlightened age versus a decrepit old has-been whose only point of reference for violent graphics is the VHS recording of Jaws!" Brac snapped out the harsh comeback without a smidgeon of concern for the hand Mole lashed out to slap over his head moments after.

"Watch it, kid!"

"_You_ watch it, bitch, or I'll fucking kick your scaled ass!" Brac yelled, lunging forward to plant a nasty hook into Mole. Alec reached out quickly, grabbing hold of his irritated son and yanking him back into his seat.

"Hey!" Alec barked loud enough and sternly enough to quell the vicious threats bouncing back and forth between the two. "That's enough!"

Brac was scowling viciously but was rigid in Alec's grasp and eyeing the man as though anticipating an attack. The hostile fear in Brac's eyes was like a knife and slashed a deep grove in Alec's heart.

Alec let go of his son and slumped back, a pained, guilt-ridden expression clouding his handsome features. Brac sat stock-still and took in his father's obvious remorse with a stern, condemning stare. Mole and Rait were watching the exchange with unbridled discomfort, as though just becoming aware of the fact that they really had intruded at a very, _very_ bad time.

Finally Alec broke the icy silence with a raspy, barely-audible, "Sorry, Brac."

Brac raised an eyebrow, and then let it fall stonily, "So am I." He moved his leg off the table and, stoically refusing help from any of the four adults, eased his arms into the crutches the hospital had loaned him and limped off in the direction of his room.

Alec rested his elbows on his knees and ran his hands through his hair and over his face. Rait glanced from the dejected X5 to his mate to Mole in a flurry of confusion before swallowing and clearing her throat.

"I uh…thought we might save time if you guys just went through the list and highlighted the names you want Mole and I to look into – seeing as you know most of these people anyway." The blonde-haired X6 eyed Max dubiously, and the older woman nodded tightly.

"Sounds like a plan." Max cast Alec a worried look and then turned her attention to the folder on the table. "I sorta did a mental sweep already so if Alec's alright with it, I can just tick off some names and get you guys started."

"Whatever it takes to get this fucking thing over with." was Alec's murmured ten cents from a head that had now entirely disappeared into his hand.

"That's the spirit, Golden-Boy!" Mole jabbed a fist into his palm emphatically as Max went over the blacklist with a tight-lipped expression of impatience – impatience to show their unannounced invaders to the door as soon as was feasible so that Max and Alec could quit their roles as municipal parents to the transgenic race and grace their children with undivided attention for just _one_ evening.

_Why is that just too damn much to ask?_ Max scribbled the last of the names onto the A4 sheet of paper and handed it to Rait without further ado. _I mean, I thought the one thing that would finally make me as close to a 'regular girl' as I was ever gonna get was havin' kids, but no! Not while there's a howling transgenic nation of a baby demanding my and Alec's attention 24-7!_

"What the hell, Max?" Mole's adamant voice invading her contemplation only served to prove the woman's point. "How are we supposed to go about findin' these people? Some of'em live as far away as…" He squinted at a printed example, "Minnesota, Texas! Whaddya want a lizard-faced 'freak' like me to do – just drive on into the State brewin' with some o' our most adamant opponents and hope I don't get lynched?!"

"Goddamn it, Mole!" Alec barked, his head shooting up to glare at the nomalie with daggers in his eyes, "You pick up a phone and you call'em! That's why there's numbers next to their names! What're you, five? You want us to hand this to you on a silver platter…"

"Calm it down, kid! I ain't attackin' you." To his credit, Mole didn't rise to the bait, and instead seemed surprisingly keen on placating his disgruntled workmate. "Look it's been a piss-stressed day for all o' us. How about we go on down to the pool hall and shoot a few rounds? I scored some firewater yesterday evenin'."

"I'm up for that!" Rait announced quietly, her bright blue eyes glowing with true concern for Max and Alec – both of whom were looking drained and on the verge of some form of breakdown.

"Thanks, but I'll give it a miss." Alec stated quietly as he eyed toe-end of his leather boots dismally.

"Yeah I think we're gonna get an early night." Max added, shooting Mole a brief glance of appreciation for his effort. "Tomorrow's gonna be a long day for all of us – 'specially if we have to be makin' our rounds."

"Ah I hear ya on that one." Mole shrugged resignedly as he pocketed the paper and stood up. "Well it's been real nice, y'all. C'mon, Rait, you up for a game o' the good stuff?" He nudged the young woman with his boot, and she took the hint, scrambling to her feet with a stretch and an accompanying yawn.

"Dunno. Am I gonna get a swig o' that firewater you just mentioned?" Rait threw a mischievous glance in Alec's direction, waiting for the inevitable "like hell, kid," from the X5 and an additional command that she was to stick to nothing but beer while Alec still owned stocks and bonds in the pool hall.

It wasn't going to happen, however. Not that evening, at any rate. Alec was staring listlessly at the dead TV screen and seemed to have tuned out completely.

"If you can beat me at a round without any o' your cheats," Mole punctured the turgid silence clumsily and then slapped a hand on Max's shoulder. "See ya tomorrow, kid."

"Sure." She responded with a weak smile before nodding at Rait as the two cast Alec measured glances of concern and then left without their usual fanfare and noisy tit-for-tat.

Nyx McDowell looked at her reflection in the mirror on her desk and recoiled in disgust. Her face and eyes were red and splotchy from hours of crying and her mascara and eyeliner had run, leaving a series of dark, ugly streaks clawing down her cheeks.

It had taken the better part of two and half hours for Nyx to calm down and convince herself that Alec was not going to burst into her bedroom and administer the walloping of a century. She hadn't known precisely how he would react once they got home, but the cold anger in his green eyes and the bite to his voice had left Nyx a terrified wreck and had her sobbingly shove every heavy item of furniture that was maneuverable in front of her door.

But the root cause of Nyx's copious tears had been the fact that she'd finally realized just how terribly her childish action had frightened her family – Alec especially. Brac had once advised Nyx in a rare informative moment that the surest means of stirring up the full-blown hurricane of their dad's temper was knowingly pulling a stunt that endangered any member of the family, themselves included.

_He's never gonna forgive you, Nyx!_ The young girl berated herself mournfully as she dabbed a cotton swab in make-up cleanser and proceeded to clean herself up, _Neither are Mom and Brac…and you sure as hell deserve for them to hate you for bein' such a bleeding idiot!_

She paused as she noticed the trembling of her hands and felt her eyes well up with fresh tears. _Just when I thought I didn't have any o' the damn things left_.

Nyx inhaled shakily and blew it out. She dropped to her knees and wiped at the tears running down her face as she rummaged underneath her chest of draws, reaching her small, thin hands inside the crack and pulling out a packet of cigarettes.

It was her last one, and Nyx had been careful to move it from one hiding place to another in an effort to ensure that it wouldn't be found. She had developed her smoking habit very quickly and a pack normally lasted Nyx only a day. But she'd been making this last one stretch, smoking only two cigarettes a day to fight off the withdrawal symptoms.

Opening her window, Nyx pocketed the smokes and clambered carefully through it onto the small ledge outside. Her night vision kicked in quick enough. Perched precariously on the tiptoes of her bare feet, the small girl moved with feline grace to scale the thick metal piping that shimmied down the apartment building. The seven-story drop would have been enough to send a normal eleven year-old's head awhirl with vertigo, but Nyx had made the climb incessantly over the past month and performed it with polished finesse.

Nyx flipped her legs over the guard rail on the flat apartment roof and sat astride it, hardly paying the lights of TC and its surrounding regions a second glance. She swung her feet back and forth in agitation as she pulled out the packet of Marlboro's and procured a small lighter from the pocket of her camis.

_You don't have to do it_. Nyx could never quite decide whether the inner voice that wrestled with her darker nature sounded more like Max or Alec.

Either way, it was unique to both her parents in its patient yet firm insistence.

_C'mon Nyxie, don't be an idiot. _

Nyx closed her eyes and sighed deeply as a tear rolled from underneath her thick dark eyelashes. She shook her head and pulled a cigarette from the pack, holding it between her lips as she fumbled with the lighter. Its bright yellow flame struck up and danced teasingly at the edge of her cigarette.

All Nyx had to do was suck. One simple intake of breath and the desired rush of tobacco would fill her lungs.

Nyx rolled her eyes, "Fuck this shit." She tossed the lighter off the edge of the roof before she had a chance to change her mind, sending the cigarettes in merciless pursuit approximately three seconds later.

Nyx jumped backwards onto the roof and rested her hands on the railing as she zoomed her vision and watched the objects plummet to the asphalt below. She was breathing heavily and her shakes were starting to get worse as her body reacted indignantly to having its daily fix so abruptly jinxed. Nyx didn't care. She would just climb down to Brac's window, let herself in and throw her arms around her brother till he grudgingly hugged her in response. Nyx had always felt safe in Brac's embrace.

She would have derived a heck of a lot more comfort in a hug from Max or Alec, but Nyx was still afraid of their reactions and determined to avoid her parents as long as they would let her…which wouldn't be very long.

A rapping at Brac's window caused him to glance up with a narrowing of his eyebrows. He shoved the notebook he'd been scrawling in under the board of his desk and used his functional leg to slide his wheeling chair over to the window.

Pulling aside his curtain, Brac's eyes widened as he took in the form of Nyx crouched on the outside ledge of his window.

"God Almighty!" He jumped in horror and then moved quickly, unlocking the window and sliding it open. He hauled his sister into the room and onto her feet, then twisted in his chair to face Nyx angrily.

"What the hell d'you think you're doin' scrambling 'round the ledges in the dark? What if you'd lost your footing or somethin' – a fall from this high up would break your back if not your neck…"

Brac's lecturing was swiftly stemmed as his little sister, after eyeing him cautiously for a brief moment, dropped to her knees and threw her arms tightly around him. Brac's eyes narrowed into slits of surprise and discomfort as he felt Nyx's head nuzzle into his shoulder.

"Brac, I'm sorry. Do you still love me?" The quiet whisper was murmured from underneath Nyx's silky hair. He rolled his eyes.

"Well yeah but that doesn't mean I understand why you can't just use the door like every other freaking person in this house." Brac's tone was curt as he dutifully patted his sister's shoulder. Nyx shuddered at the coldness of the touch. The assurance she normally took in her brother's physical condolence was somehow abated.

She wanted her mom. She wanted her dad.

She didn't want Brac. For some reason, she was suddenly more afraid of him then she was of her parents. Nyx stood up and backed away from her brother, eyeing the strait-laced veneer on his face and the coolness of his emerald eyes with growing disconcertion.

"Brac, what's happening to you?" Nyx asked, hearing the choke in her voice and not caring in the slightest. She was scared for herself and for her brother and she wanted him to know it. "Why've you changed all of a sudden?"

Brac considered the question for a moment before he gave Nyx a frosty grin, "Nyx, come on. I _always_ jump at every chance I get to scold you – your reactions are priceless."

"That isn't what I mean!" Nyx insisted pleadingly, feeling her lip begin to quiver in sync with her hands as she backed towards the door. "Your smile's going cold. Your eyes have been cold for weeks. When you laugh, it isn't real, and when you look at us it's like we're the enemy or something."

"Uh huh, right." Brac rolled his eyes and swiveled his chair to face his desk once more, turning his back to his sister. "Would you mind performin' Jekyll and Hyde in the _living_ _room_, Nyx? You'd have a bigger audience and trust me – they'd be a helluva lot more interested."

Nyx snorted in disbelief and eyed Brac with a mixture of shock and pity before she quietly exited his room, shutting the door behind her and pressing her back against it. She leant her head back and closed her eyes tightly to stave off frustrated, fearful tears.

When Nyx opened her chocolate-colored eyes, they were ringed with a fiery determination. She traipsed purposefully into the front room and after a moment of searching, spotted Max and Alec on the sofa.

Max was curled up with her head resting on Alec's lap, his arm draped across the length of her balled-up frame and his other hand playing subconsciously with her hair. The TV was on and showing a rerun of some pre-Pulse hit starring a rake-thin Angelina Jolie. As Nyx silently approached the living room, she observed that her parents didn't exactly seem to be actually watching the film so much as occupying their minds with whatever they had on hand.

Nyx took a deep breath and then blew it out as she fought for an ice-breaker. Alec and Max's eyes were still glued to the screen, but Nyx was certain that both of them were fully aware of her presence and seemed to be either ignoring her or waiting for her to make the first move. Knowing her parents as she did, Nyx decided to assume the latter.

She took the plunge, heading to the fridge and pulling open the freezer determinedly. Nyx rummaged around with the drawers and fished out two of Alec's beers, a plastic bottle of Orangeade and a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice-cream. Shoving the door shut with her foot, Nyx juggled the items in her grasp and somehow managed to procure three spoons with her teeth from the silverware drawer.

Alec glanced at the beers Nyx was holding out to him and Max and raised an eyebrow.

"Thought you guys might want a drink." Nyx smiled.

Alec exchanged a knowing glance with Max before they both smirked. "Did ya now? That's real sweet o' you, sharin' your beers with us like that, Nyxie-girl."

Nyx's smile grew wider, "Well the beer ain't mine but the ice-cream is," She produced the tub with a smug raise of her eyebrows as Alec and Max's eyes began to drool, "so shut up and chow down!"

"Yes, ma'am." Alec said with a broad smile that suggested the X5 was bursting at the seams with relief as he accepted the beer and spoon his daughter was holding out to him.

"And move over while you're at it, you sofa-hogs!" Nyx ordered, and Max had barely a second to scramble into a sitting position before the young girl plonked herself down on the couch and clambered over her mother.

"Hey, Ow!" Max protested with a laugh as she got a knee in her ribs, "Watch it, kiddo, where're you goin' anyhow?"

"Right here!" Nyx stated flatly as she snuggled in-between Alec and Max with an air of unrestrained glee at being within her comfort zone once more. "And there'll be no tickling, so if anyone tries it, they forfeit their spoon!"

Alec in particular was highly amused by Nyx's bossy demeanor and raised his eyebrows at Max, who was laughing as she watched Nyx matter-of-factly scoop up the remote and switch the channels.

"Hey! 'Wanted' happens to be a pre-Pulse classic, Nyxie!" Alec complained loudly as Nyx flipped channels once more.

"Well don't worry, we're gonna watch another one o' those. Here you go!" The young girl popped the lid off the ice cream tub and dug out a spoonful, ignoring Max and Alec's groans as Star Wars episode three rolled into life with the squeaky whine of Padme Amidala's "Anakin! You're breaking my heart!"

"Come on!" Alec protested while Max gave in to the giggles once more. He knew his mate was recalling the incident years back when she had persuaded him that Star Wars was a must-see for the world and a worthy theft indeed.

Of course it was. Anything involving a cure for the virus had been considered worth a great deal by Max. Thankfully her incessant searching had abated once the virus had been exterminated – and then she'd moved on to a new 'righteous cause'. That had always been Max's way.

"Okay," Nyx had suddenly clicked off the TV and bounced off the couch. She dragged a beanbag laying in the corner to the front of the sofa and threw herself onto it, crossing her legs as she did so and looking at her parents, "If we're not gonna watch, we're gonna talk!"

"What do you wanna talk about, Nyx?" Max was relieved the girl had addressed the topic herself, and took a swig of her beer to maintain a relaxed air.

"I wanna talk about what's happening to our family." Nyx said, point-blank. She was eyeing Max and Alec with a seriousness that made her appear far older then her eleven years.

Alec gave Max a quick look and leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees and gripping his beer with both hands as he caught his daughter's intense gaze and held it with an earnest one of his own.

"Well, I think we're all goin' through a lot of changes in our lives right now and…"

"Like what kind of changes?" Nyx interrupted sharply – but not disrespectfully, "And why are they getting us all revved up?"

Alec raised his eyebrows and shrugged, "Sometimes changes scare people and they're not sure how to handle it."

"It doesn't mean the changes are the problem, Nyxie." Max added, "Just means sometimes we react to them the wrong way."

"The way we're all reacting now?" Nyx queried quietly as she glanced at her mother with consternation.

"How are we reacting, Nyxie?" Alec didn't want to ask the question because he was afraid of the response. Still, it was pining to be posed, and Alec had never been one to shy away from doing the dirty work.

The girl shrugged as she eyed the fraying edges of her camis, "Dunno. Just…we fight a lot, and we didn't used to. You and Mom get frustrated with people oftener then before. I picked up smokin' and Brac," she shook her head with a snort, "he's in a whole league of his own nowadays."

"Your brother's goin' through a bit of a rough phase at the moment, Nyxie." Alec felt Max's eyes on him – two large, brown orbs cautioning the man to be careful. "I wouldn't let it get to you. It's just the angst-ridden transitional stage from childhood to teenhood. You're not past hittin' it yourself right about now." He grinned. Nyx didn't.

"Not ever!" She spat out the word with such force that her parents stiffened visibly. Nyx looked down once more and her tone mellowed out…but not the ice in her eyes. "I'm used to seeing warmth and love in Brac's eyes and it's just not there anymore – it's gone. The coldness scares me."

"You runnin' off today scared _us_." Max answered softly, "Doesn't mean we don't still love you, Nyxie."

"Yeah well the fact I'm scared doesn't mean I don't love Brac!" Nyx responded, head shooting up sharply, "My question is does _he_ still love _me_?"

"Course he does." Alec shot down the insinuation before it had a chance to flourish further. "He's just dealin' with a lotta anger and frustration and doesn't seem to know what to do about it."

Nyx scrunched up her nose, "Well then why don't you guys help him out?"

Alec smiled wanly at his daughter's unfailing faith in her parents' ability to make everything alright. "We're workin' on it. If I can, I promise to draft you up a progress report. Is that satisfactory, ma'am?"

Nyx pursed her lips in thought and then nodded with a chuckle at the alien sensation of being referred to as 'ma'am'.

"Good." Alec's face suddenly twisted into a wicked grin, "Now when do I get a hunk o' that ice-cream you got there?"

Nyx rolled her eyes with a smile and moved to sit between Alec and Max once more. "Dig in, peeps!" She nestled into the groove of Alec's outstretched arm and closed her eyes for a brief moment, savoring the familiar security and feeling even more at ease as Max's hand stroked her hair.

The three transgenics sat on that sofa until late past midnight, downing spoonfuls of ice-cream and lambasting the Star Wars reruns with a merciless barrage of McDowell wit. Alec had laughed till his sides ached when Nyx had made a subtle remark comparing Anakin Skywalker's ceaseless whining to a certain other member of their family's.

Max said very little the entire evening, but her eyes spoke volumes of uncertainty which she veiled with a set of long, thick eyelashes.

Alec had never known Ben. Only Max had ever seen the hardened gleam in her brother's eyes…and only Max had ever recognized a sapling version of it in the calloused gaze of her son.

Didn't mean she had to say anything, though. Not yet, at any rate…

To Be Continued


End file.
